AM I Too Early to Die?
by snakeruler
Summary: After Frey returns to his home sanctuary and finds someone beat him there, he realizes his feelings for Alice are shriking as his feelings for Cat, the new girl, grow. At least until a Maram Master to close to her shows himself. Freycentered, will be PG13
1. Blood and Jam

Am I Too Early to Die?

Disclaimer: YOU CAN'T MAKE ME SAY IT! Okay, I guess you can….Sigh, eye twitches I. Twitch Don't. Twitch Own. Twitch Alice 19th… BUT I WANT IT! Cries, laughs manically, falls over

Chapter 1:** Blood and Jam**

Frey returned to his home sanctuary from Japan in the dead of night, knowing exactly what awaited him. But as the towering building came into view, he knew something was wrong. Glaring out into the night, a light shone from the center room. Alarmed, he picked up that pace, rushing to the door. Pushing them open, he nearly stumbled into the room as they gave out, clearly unlocked. Expecting a bloodbath, he was shocked to find the room spotlessly clean. Kneeling at the front of the room, before the altar, was a small figure.

"What are you doing here?" he said, a bit too loudly, and his voice reverberated through the room and came back to him several times. The figure jumped several inches off the ground, fell backwards, then hastily stood, revealing that it was a young woman.

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said, hanging her head. Her accent was nowhere near Norwegian, but somewhere between American and British. "I didn't realize that there was anyone left! Forgive me for intruding! I'll leave…" She took a step toward one of the doors leading from the hall.

"What? No, don't go! I just wasn't expecting anyone to be here!" He paused, realizing how pretty the girl was, and decided to wait to make a move on her. "Where..? Where did all the bodies go? Aren't they all dead?"

She hung her head again. "Yes. I came to see the sanctuary and when I arrived, there were bodies everywhere. I cleaned the hall and took the bodies into a different room so I can bury them tomorrow."

"You moved them all?" He looked her up and down; she was petite, about five feet, and some of those men were pretty heavy.

"I'm not as fragile as I look," she replied, pulling the collar of her thin coat higher. When her sleeve fell, he saw the Lotis bracelet dangle on her arm.

"You're a Lotis Master," he announced, pointing out the obvious. She looked at him dubiously.

"Do people other than Lotis Masters normally come here? At my branch we don't normally give tours."

"No, it's just we weren't expecting anyone. At least, I don't think we were. I've been in Japan, so I wouldn't know." Her entire face brightened, and her head shot up. He could see her face clearly. She had shining blue eyes, wide with something he couldn't quite place. Her hair was dark blonde, but he had seen that already. Her mouth curved up good naturedly, but that could be because she grinned when he mentioned Japan. High cheekbones and a small delicate nose completed the angelic image.

"Oh, you were the guide sent from this branch? Did you see Billy?" As she said his name her eyes seemed to sparkle a bit.

It was his turn to be dubious. "You know Billy?"

"Of course I know Billy. He's from my home branch. We're pretty good friends. Nice guy." She seemed to let her guard down when he revealed he knew Billy. "It is kind of cold out there. Do you mind closing the door?" He turned around, realizing that he had left the door open in his haste to find out who was in the sanctuary. He closed them and walked over to her. She lowered her head again.

"Don't be shy! I think you're just my type!" he exclaimed.

Her head snapped up. "What?" He began to circle her, and he noticed a notebook on the floor beside, but she kicked it shut before he could see what was in it.

"Nice figure, good bone structure, quite pretty!" She blushed, but looked up at him defiantly.

"I happen to have a boyfriend, thank you very much!" She said, trying to cool the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"Oh, well then, I'll just have to steal you from him!" He stroked her cheek. She half laughed, half snorted at the remark, pushing his hand away.

"I'd be funny to see you try!" She paused. "Don't even think about it!" He laughed and in a few seconds, she was laughing with him.

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Two days had passed. Her name was Catalina Cantolini. Frey found out that she was traveling to many of the bigger Lotis branches, doing research on different styles and uses of the words. She was apparently working on a project for her home branch that she wouldn't tell him even the smallest bit of information on. Over the past two days, they had managed to give each of Frey's fellow neomasters a small burial and they settled down for a bite to eat in the dining hall. Frey had been trying to convince her to sit next to him, but she still insisted on sitting across the table, and several seats away.

"You still won't sit next to me?" Frey whined. Correcting his voice, he tried to seduce her into it. "Please? I thought you just said you were cold. I can keep you warm."

"Not going to work, Frey. I have another page to do to meet my deadline, or you should call me Dog Meat." She propped her notebook up on a jug of water and quickly began writing.

"I like meat. Meat tastes good."

"Still not working. And ew." She didn't even bother looking up form her work.

He shrugged. "Worth a try." He dug into his food. Steamed vegetables and bread with jam.

"You definitely make the best jam in the world," she muttered after the first bite of the bread.

"Yes, don't I? If you'd join me in the kitchen tomorrow, we can make some more. We could heat things up!"

She looked up at him. "A) I am not 'heating anything up' with you, as you so quaintly put it. B) You do not want me anywhere near the kitchen. Unless you want your beloved sanctuary to explode."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a fact. I'm a horrible cook. I will blow something up."

"We'll see about that!" Then he decidedly ate his food.

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Frey managed to drag Catalina to the kitchen the next morning. He had been up since dawn, rummaging through the stores for fruit he thought she would like. Luckily, it was only fall, and none of them had been dried of made into jam yet. He even picked a bushel of apples from the orchard. When he pushed her into the kitchen around 10 o'clock, almost all the surfaces were covered with baskets of fruit. A sight that caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Now, I know that was not here yesterday!" she marveled.

"No, it wasn't. Now let's make some jam!" She grimaced, but allowed him to direct her through the motions.

When they were finally finished, it was nearly 3 o'clock. They had apple preserves, strawberry and blueberry jam, and grape jelly. The apple preserves were the first to cool entirely. Frey fetched a spoon, dipped it into them, and held it in front of Catalina's face.

"Open," he demanded. She shook her head furiously. "Come on! You followed my recipe! It's fine!" She shook her head again. "EAT THE JAM!" She just shook her head again. This time, he grabbed her chin, forced her jaws apart and stuck the spoon into her mouth.

"That… was actually good!" she said, as he ate a spoonful himself.

"See! I told you it was fine! What was all the fuss about, my little one?"

"A) Don't call me that! B) I've never made anything actually edible before!"

"That explains a lot." She glared at him and bother were silent until the blueberry jam was done. This time, she grabbed a fresh spoon and took a bite. "What? Too prim and proper to use the same spoon?" He held it out.

"You ate off it. I am not putting that back in my mouth." She said, after swallowing. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to try it, and when he didn't, she took another. As soon as the she swallowed and opened her mouth to ask him why he wouldn't eat anything, he kissed her. She pulled away, just a bit, shook her head, then broke into a run out of the kitchen.

Frey followed her to the door, but she was already out of the hallway. He leaned against the doorframe and muttered, "I'm not that bad of a kisser, am I?"


	2. Sure, Boyfriend, I Get It

Am I Too Early to Die?

Disclaimer: They can make me say it, but they can't make me mean it! I don't, have never, and will never own Alice 19th, no matter how much that fact breaks my heart…

**Chapter 2: Sure, Boyfriend, I Get It**

Frey decided to wait for Catalina to return. He figured it would be much easier to talk to her after she cooled down a bit rather than chasing after her immediately. But she didn't come back. Darkness fell and had settled around the sanctuary before Frey finally decided to go find her. After a few minutes of searching, he found her beside the small lake on the premises, directly behind the graves of the Lotis Masters. He slid down next to her, and gazed out at the lake.

"I was wondering when you'd come to find me," she muttered. "And no, I did not just wait out here to see. I'm glad you left me alone this long." He turned and shifted his gaze to her.

"Why did you run out like that?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"I told you, I have a boyfriend," she stated simply.

"It's more than that, I can tell," he replied. She smiled slightly.

"Frey, you know your problem?" With out waiting for a reply, she continued. "You're just too damn astute."

"Don't try changing the subject. What's the matter?"

"Frey, I have a boyfriend. I care about him so much, not a single other guy has caught my eye in the past year we've been together. Except you. You intrigue me to the point that I'm scared out of my wits."

"Then why not let it go? Are you scared of me?" She let out a short, bark-like laugh.

"I wish it was that simple. It's not you I'm afraid of."

"What, are you scared of what your boyfriend would do if he found out?"

"No," she said simply, obviously lying. She paused before continuing, "I'm scared of myself, of letting it get out of control. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I lost James for someone I only met three days ago." She laughed again. "No matter how attracted to him I am."

"So you didn't want to stick around to see how far I'd go?" he asked, stroking her cheek softly. She pushed his hand away quickly.

"No. I didn't want to stick around to see how far _I'd _let it go. I didn't want to stay long enough to lose control." She smiled up at him, still shorter even when they were sitting. "And I would have." She left it at that. After a short pause, Frey decided it was time to change the subject.

"So, how long have you been studying the Lotis?"

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Nearly two weeks passed before Catalina finished her project. Having three more days before her deadline, she stayed an extra day to convince Frey to come back to America with her. After several hours of her constant nagging and pleading, he agreed. A day and some odd hours later, they stepped off the plane and into the airport. Since it was an early flight, and only about six am in Chicago, very few people stood there. Catalina ran ahead of Frey and into the arms of an awaiting man, who held a dozen roses.

"Kitty-Cat!" exclaimed the man. "You were gone too long!"

"I know! I'm sorry!" She pulled away as Frey came to stand behind her. "Hun, this is Frey. Frey, this is James, my boyfriend." James was tall, taller than Frey, who stood at nearly six feet. He had black hair and dark cold eyes, which narrowed as he took in Frey. His mouth curved into a slight sneer.

"Can I talk to you," he said, shifting his eyes back to Catalina. "Alone?" She nodded, looking confused.

"Can you wait here just a sec?" she asked Frey as James grabbed her arm and pulled her away. Standing so Frey could still see them next to a pillar, the starting talking. Over the course of several minutes, James went from annoyance to concern to extreme anger, while Catalina managed to transform from confused to angry to mildly afraid. James raised his hand, but lowered it almost immediately. Catalina looked him straight in the eye and then walked back over to Frey.

"You can stay at our place," she said, smiling warmly. James followed, still looking very annoyed.

"That's alright? I mean, I don't want to impose," he said honestly.

"Of course it's alright!" Cat said before James had a chance to say anything. Frey noticed his hesitation, but since he had no where else to stay, agreed to stay. Closing in on Cat as soon as she was alone, he questioned her about the argument.

"What was that all about?" he asked seriously.

"What? Oh, our fight? Nothing, he just gets a little possessive. He wanted to know if I was sleeping with you."

"What?" Frey was genuinely surprised. "Guilty conscience?"

"Of course not! I was gone for a month. He's allowed to worry. Now drop the subject!"

"One last thing?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow, inviting him to continue. "Was he going to hit you?"

She looked at him, all amusement in her eyes gone. "No. James has anger management problems. He's been working on it, but he had abusive parents. He hasn't hit me, he always checks himself." Frey nodded and let the subject die.

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Frey stayed with Cat and James for about a week before anything eventful happened. Cat and James went to work, James at a Martial Arts academy, and cat at a publishing company. They came home, ate dinner, and went to sleep. But on the next Saturday, Cat announced they were going to a party.

"James' band is playing at a huge rave tonight. We're going," she stated, leaving no room for compromise.

"Alright," he skeptically replied. Cat left to get ready, leaving him alone in the living room. In less then a half hour, they were on their way to the party.

Pulling up in front of an old warehouse, Cat parked and pulled him from the car, a 1995 Le Baron convertible. They danced their way through the crowd as a DJ played a track or two.

"I think he's on break!" she yelled to him over the music. "Let's try to find him!" Frey nodded as the made their way past. After about ten minutes, Cat spotted James facing a wall. As she moved closer, she realized that he was leaning in on a small girl. Passionately making out, he was pressing her into the wall. Cat froze, and Frey bumped into her, seeing where she was looking. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her through the mass of bodies out the door. Pushing her to the car, he plopped her into the passenger seat and sat in the driver's. Putting the car in gear, he drove to a nearby park. Cat was in a state of shock.

Stopping the car on a nice-sized ledge, he turned to her. She took one look at him and burst into tears. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her onto his shoulder, knowing this was not a time to take advantage of. She sobbed into his shoulder for nearly twenty minutes before she could speak. She pulled away from Frey, tears still streaming down her cheeks, and began to choke out furious words.

"I-I spent so, so damn long, so damn hard trying to be faithful to him around you and look what he does!" She banged her fist into the dashboard. Frey, for once was speechless. This was not an outburst he had been expecting. When he said nothing, she opened the door. "Out of the car."

"What?" he asked, surprised again.

"I'm driving back. Get out of the car." Frey obeyed silently. As soon as they were both situated, she sped back to her house. Running in, she began to tear apart her and James' room, throwing all of his things into a suitcase. Frey came up behind her.

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking around the room that looked as if a tornado had struck.

"Getting rid of his stuff. My house, my room. I'm throwing him out," she replied simply. She found all of his belongings and heaved the case out to the front door. Slamming it down on the stoop, she locked all the doors and windows. Only then did she turn to Frey, silent as a stone.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Right now, I want to kiss you so bad, but my commonsense is screaming at me to turn and run."

"Wow," he said.

"And I think I should listen to it. No offense, but I don't think I can handle it right now," she muttered, looking away.

"I understand," he said, glad to be out of her intense gaze. "We can worry about that later. I think we should both get some rest." Cat nodded and both went to their respectable rooms.


End file.
